Specialty Stores

A 21-year monopoly over retail business at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport will soon come to an end, but Broward County commissioners on Tuesday could not decide how much competition they want to allow. Unable to decide how to allot new contracts between high-end specialty stores and newsstand and general merchandise shops, the commission agreed to hold off on an overall strategy for about three months, until airport administrators can come up a specialty store plan. "We are all split on this," Mayor Ben Graber said.

Our Mission: To be the most valuable source of parenting information and local resources for families in South Florida. We are committed to enhancing the lives of families by maintaining excellence in editorial content, presenting high-quality events and encouraging community awareness. South Florida Parenting, the premier parenting magazine in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, has a distribution of 100,000 copies and has become an indispensable source for parents, teachers and caregivers.

By BETH FEINSTEIN-BARTL Special to the Sun-Sentinel, November 20, 1994

Christmas carols play softly as 12 women work on the evening's scheduled holiday project, a 20-by-6-inch wall hanging decorated with snowmen, hearts, mittens and evergreen trees. Never mind that it is only a few days past Halloween and Thanksgiving is still to come. Scenes of people diligently pursuing Christmas or Hanukkah craft projects can be seen throughout specialty shops in Broward County. For many, holiday projects started in the heat of summer and gradually build from there. "Here, we start our Christmas craft classes in July," said Stormie Neal, an instructor at Country Stitches in Coral Springs.

A Microsoft specialty store is opening Thursday at the Town Center at Boca Raton , the first retail store for the company in Palm Beach County . The kiosk-type retail space will sell Windows phones, Microsoft Surface tablets, software, gaming consoles and other products. Microsoft began rolling out smaller pop-up holiday stores at malls and shopping centers last year, featuring a limited selection of items found at larger retail locations. Some of those stores have transitioned to specialty stores.

A globe that both shows and tells. A kiddy cash register that teaches 3-year-olds to count. And the ultimate juvenile crowd-pleaser _ a chemistry set that makes fake mucus. They are toys with a purpose: learning. Some are as simple as building blocks. Others use computer software to disguise rote learning as fun. "It's a lot more fun than it used to be. We're not talking flash cards and workbooks anymore," says toy consultant Addie Swartz, whose company, Bright Ideas, lists the best educational software for parents.

Our Mission: To be the most valuable source of parenting information and local resources for families in South Florida. We are committed to enhancing the lives of families by maintaining excellence in editorial content, presenting high-quality events and encouraging community awareness. South Florida Parenting, the premier parenting magazine in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, has a distribution of 100,000 copies and has become an indispensable source for parents, teachers and caregivers.

Thousands of shoppers converged on Saturday upon the Aventura Mall as the Bloomingdale's department store opened. The opening of the 252,000-square-foot department store came one week before the 14-year-old mall is to unveil a new wing of 100 specialty stores. With the expansion, Aventura Mall will double in size. Residents worry that the congested roads will not be able to handle the added traffic.

In the old days, shopping was more predictable. Department stores sold a lot of things in a big space. Boutiques sold a lot less in an area a fraction of the size. These days department stores, in their quest to ring up bigger sales, are thinking small. They`re thinking boutiques. Walk into most local department stores, and you`ll probably pass a smaller section offering some brand of clothing or computers or shoes, a part of the store set apart from the rest of the place -- from floor to fixtures, from mannequins to music to shopping bags.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends that refrigerators should maintain a temperature no higher than 40 degrees; freezers no higher than 0 degrees. Refrigerator and freezer thermometers (from $5.99) are available at most grocery, hardware and specialty stores. FREEZE ITEMS FIRST Before storing pantry items, such as dried mushrooms or dried chili peppers or even spices and flour, you may wish to "quarantine" them in your freezer for 48 hours, suggests Jean Anderson in 1,002 Secrets of Great Cooks (The Berkley Publishing Group, 1995)

Every time 9-year-old Makhia Wilson of Lauderdale Lakes comes to Sawgrass Mills mall in Sunrise, there is one store she always visits: the candy store It'Sugar. Inside, she bounces around, rapidly pointing to candy bin after candy bin, her bright yellow tank top, pink shoes and patterned pants just as colorful as the store's interior. "I like this one, this one, and ooh, this one also," she exclaims, pointing to gummy worms, Twizzlers and gum balls. Around her, the walls are adorned with gigantic chocolate bars and lollipops, branded T-shirts and tank tops, and iPhone accessories.

The new 32,000-square-foot Golfsmith specialty retail store in Boca Raton officially opens Friday at 8 a.m. at 20415 State Road 7. To celebrate the event, the retailer is giving away more than $40,000 in prizes during two days of festivities on March 4 and 5. Prizes include free rounds of golf, $20 Golfsmith cash cards and $10,000 worth of golf equipment. Billed as the largest golf retail location in southeast Florida, the Boca store features a free indoor driving range, an indoor putting green and two custom fitting studios, and sells a selection of golf apparel and accessories.

Maybe you've been invited to a last-minute Halloween party. Or just discovered your child's costume doesn't fit for this week's trick or treating. Now you need a quick costume, but there aren't many bones in your bank account. What to do? Fortunately, with a few shopping tricks and some creativity, you can be creep-y this year on the cheap-y. The fastest way to save is to skip buying or renting a full-blown, pre-assembled costume. Go with a single, cool accessory and use stuff around home to adorn it. I found a fun fake butcher's knife that plays a screeching sound for just $2 at a local retail store.

Beginning Friday, Jan. 16 through Sunday, Jan. 18th, Boynton Beach Mall will host its premier Super Sale Weekend with many retailers offering the best deals ever. As part of Super Sale Weekend, Boynton Beach Mall will create a sidewalk sale atmosphere. Many retailers such as Spencers, Mrs. Fields, Yankee Candle Co, Underground Station, Rack Room Shoes, Game Stop, Fits ?R? Us and more will feature their special offers just outside their storefront, with more great merchandise priced to sell inside each store.

Around the country, mall centers are starting to feel the recoil from a rapid expansion in recent years that allowed retailers to aim stores at almost every niche, from shoppers who wanted Talbots clothes for their children to those who craved Bombay's little wood tables. Now, consumers who are closing their wallets amid rising gasoline prices and a housing slump are forcing specialty retailers to pare back their brands. While still healthy overall, mall centers in areas hardest hit by the housing downturn - like Paradise Valley - are suffering the most store shutdowns.

Christmas Etc. owner Bill Laughlin is wrapping up the 2007 holiday season without the gift he had most hoped for: high fourth-quarter sales figures. Instead, shoppers showed restraint while browsing around his 7,000-square-foot seasonal decoration store in West Palm Beach, possibly wary of a flagging economy. Sales figures have been down by roughly 10 to 15 percent. "A lot of lookers," Laughlin said. "Not necessarily a lot of buyers." Laughlin said he knew the numbers would be lackluster by November when customers were not snapping up the lights, expensive lifelike miniature villages, tinsel-laden trees, running trains and other intricate decorations typically sought out at Christmas Etc. in the weeks before Thanksgiving.

In the Sept. 20 article, "Publix's new shade of green," I got a chuckle out of business writer Jaclyn Giovis referring to this as a destination for "health nuts." Oh, those crazy heath nuts: Imagine wanting chemically free fruits and vegetables; steroid- and hormone-free dairy and meats; whole-grain non-processed breads and healthy fat? What the heck are those nuts thinking? Thank goodness, "conventional" shoppers are still the norm. As the majority head for those pesticides, transfats and chemically altered food, let's keep those health nuts confined to specialty stores so they don't block the Twinkie aisle.

Police think a group of Delray Beach women has been targeting elderly women in Coral Springs stores, distracting them while they shop, then stealing the women's wallets from their purses. The women, age 25 to 35, approach their victims while they are shopping, and begin talking with them, Coral Springs police said. While the victim and suspect talk, another woman takes the victim's wallet from her open purse; they then use the victim's credit cards at neighboring stores. The women are targeting smaller businesses such as travel agencies, auto repair shops and specialty stores, police said.

In the Sept. 20 article, "Publix's new shade of green," I got a chuckle out of business writer Jaclyn Giovis referring to this as a destination for "health nuts." Oh, those crazy heath nuts: Imagine wanting chemically free fruits and vegetables; steroid- and hormone-free dairy and meats; whole-grain non-processed breads and healthy fat? What the heck are those nuts thinking? Thank goodness, "conventional" shoppers are still the norm. As the majority head for those pesticides, transfats and chemically altered food, let's keep those health nuts confined to specialty stores so they don't block the Twinkie aisle.